Rupert Murdoch has resigned as director of a number of companies behind British newspapers The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times, a News International spokeswoman said.

“Last week Mr. Murdoch stepped down from a number of boards, many of them small subsidiary boards, both in the U.K. and the U.S.,” a spokeswoman for News Corp’s British publishing arm News International said on July 21. The chief executive is stepping down from his role on the boards of News Corp, News International Group and Times Newspaper. He has also left more than a dozen boards in the US, Australia and India.

News International said it was “no more than a corporate house-cleaning exercise prior to the company split”. The decision comes after Murdoch announced last month that News Corp will press ahead with a split of the entertainment division from its struggling publishing business, saying he is committed to both units. He said he would be chairman of both companies, including an entertainment unit led by Fox studios and television assets.